Amari Cooper Is An Elite Receiver, But Alabama Fans Already Knew That

About seven weeks ago head coach of the Oakland Raiders Jon Gruden let it be known to the media that Amari Cooper was not really in the future plans of the franchise. At that point in time, Cooper had been really struggling. He was having a career-worst season, even when coming off of a down season the year prior. It was obvious that a change needed to be made and made quickly. Then came Jerry Jones. He offered the Raiders a first round pick for Cooper and the sports world was a bit puzzled. It was a steep asking price for a player who hadn't really been playing great but Jones and the Cowboys were confident in Cooper's skills. And looking back at the trade, it was an absolute steal.

Since the trade Coopers change in production has been night and day. With the Raiders, Cooper had just 22 receptions for 280 yards and a single touchdown. But in Dallas Cooper has caught 40 passes for 642 yards and six touchdowns. Oh, and by the way, the Cowboys have won 5 straight games since Cooper joined the team, and are in first place in the NFC East. It looks like all of those takes about how Cooper was washed up haven't aged well. I'll be the first to say that I may have been one of these people.

Regardless, if you were to ask me if I was surprised that Cooper was capable of this kind of impact on a team I would answer that question with a resounding no. I've known that Amari Cooper had the potential to be great for years.

Just look back at his career here at Alabama. Cooper started as a true freshman at a time where Nick Saban's teams were riddled with upperclassman and nearly every freshman that came in surely had to redshirt. But not Cooper he came right in and made a huge impact. He was able to add balance to an Alabama offense that was extremely run heavy. He had 59 catches for 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns as a freshman and came up huge in the SEC championship with a late go-ahead touchdown. But his big moments did stop there.

As a junior Cooper broke records. He has 124 catches for 1,727 yards and 16 touchdowns all of which are school records. Cooper also had a monster game against Auburn in the Iron Bowl that year, when he helped lead a second-half comeback with just stupid numbers. 13 catches for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns. It might have been the greatest performance I've ever seen by a receiver at any level.

So if you've paid any attention to Alabama football over the last couple of seasons, you aren't really surprised at how Cooper has been able to light the league on fire.

I know you didn’t sincerely care about our mental health, as long as we were physically healthy and our bodies were working enough to play. It’s obvious your calling wasn’t coaching and you weren’t meant to work with young adults, some who look to you as a parent figure or a confidant.

I also know that if we were to express our concerns about the empty feeling we began to feel when we stepped onto the court, you wouldn’t have taken the conversation seriously because it wasn’t your problem.

I know we can't blame you completely, no one has ever stood up to you before. No one said anything when girls would spend their time in the locker room crying because of something that was said or when half the team considered quitting because it was just too much.

We can't get mad at the obvious favoritism because that’s how sports are played.

Politics plays a huge role and if you want playing time, you have to know who to befriend. We CAN get mad at the obvious mistreatment, the empty threats, the verbal abuse, “it's not what you say, its how you say it.”

We can get mad because a sport that we loved so deeply and had such passion for, was taken away from us single-handedly by an adult who does not care. I know a paycheck meant more to you than our wellbeing, and I know in a few years you probably won’t even remember who we are, but we will always remember.

We will remember how excited we used to get on game days and how passionate we were when we played. How we wanted to continue on with our athletic careers to the next level when playing was actually fun. We will also always remember the sly remarks, the obvious dislike from the one person who was supposed to support and encourage us.

We will always remember the day things began to change and our love for the game started to fade.

I hope that one day, for the sake of the young athletes who still have a passion for what they do, you change.

I hope those same athletes walk into practice excited for the day, to get better and improve, instead of walking in with anxiety and worrying about how much trouble they would get into that day. I hope those athletes play their game and don’t hold back when doing it, instead of playing safe, too afraid to get pulled and benched the rest of the season.

I hope they form an incredible bond with you, the kind of bond they tell their future children about, “That’s the coach who made a difference for me when I was growing up, she’s the reason I continued to play.”

I don’t blame you for everything that happened, we all made choices. I just hope that one day, you realize that what you're doing isn’t working. I hope you realize that before any more athletes get to the point of hating the game they once loved.

Recapping Super Bowl 53

To most fans, Sunday nights showdown of Patriots against the Rams was fairly disappointing, as it ended up being the lowest scoring Super Bowl in history. Although the game was relatively a close game, it wasn't the close game that fans were hoping for at all. No touchdowns being scored through three full quarters made it tough to watch for fans, apart from those who were entertained by watching great defensive performances.

The game just seemed to be going back and forth with a punt after punt as neither team could put together any string of nice plays. Out of those punts, one of them broke the record for the longest punt in Super Bowl history, by Rams Kicker Johnny Hekker (65 yards).

As the fourth quarter went on, Tom Brady managed to do his thing and march down the field, ending the drive in the only touchdown of the night. This made the score 10-3, which allowed the Rams to stay in the game until an interception was thrown by Jared Goff in Patriots territory during the final minutes of the game.

After this interception, the Patriots were able to get another field goal, making the game a two-possession game of 13-3. The clock struck zero and the Patriots were Super Bowl champions for the 6th time, adding another ring to the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick era, or dynasty as some would say.

Julian Edelman, who caught for 10 passes and 141 yards, was awarded the Most Valuable Player award, winning his 3rd Super Bowl. Julian Edelman's story to MVP is a true Cinderella story, being drafted in the 7th round as the 232nd pick in 2009, he was always seen as an "average at best" player. Even with all of the people doubting him, he still managed to have a monstrous Super Bowl leading his team to a record-tying 6th Lombardi Trophy.

Although the 2018-2019 NFL season, in general, saw their ratings improve upon the previous 2017-2018 season, this did not hold true with the Super Bowl itself. Reports came out on Monday, February 4th that this year's Super Bowl had the lowest ratings in 10 years.